Hello, I have a fairly small setup and I currently have my speakers on the same shelf as my turntable. I’ve read that this is bad and was wondering if isolation pads would help with this? Or is it completely necessary to get speaker stands.
Just move it. Maybe mount a shelf on the wall to hold it near it’s current location
" … I’ve read that this is bad… " You have not heard it Yourself? Well keep it like it is.
A simple test could show You the physics behind Your question. Put a glas of water on a table and knock on the table. The heavier You knock the more ripples You can see in the water.
In the end it depends on the volume, frequency, Your favourite music style, the speakers, the shelf material (to transport the vibration), the isolation in the turntable (most have some) and the sensitivity of Your pickup.
Anyway best practice: do not allow the the vibration short circuit over the same fixture.
Both, isolate the speakers totally from the TT. Use stands and isolation, if you have room.
Hockey pucks work good.
I’ve made my own using pucks, fabric furniture pads, and blue tac. Seemed to do the trick under my TT.
I feel like you could buy some cheap isolation pads for less than 8 hockey pucks
You can get speaker stands that also isolate or dampen (most good ones do). Check out IsoAcoustics products if you want to find some great isolation options.
This isn’t just about stopping vibrations from reaching your turntable. Loudspeakers perform better when properly isolated. When the vibrations from your speaker cabinets transfer into furniture, it actually muddies up the sound a bit. This is why you’ll will pretty much always see monitors on isolation stands or pads in professional studios, where accuracy really matters.
Stands are best, but mounting the turntable on additional isolation is probably a good idea too.
Stands will do the most to eliminate an issue of vibration from speakers affecting your turntable.
But the real question is…are you currently having issues with speaker vibration affecting your turntable.
I’d suggest putting the speakers on some boxes or something to see if you can tell the difference.
If you can, then decide if it’s worth it for you.
Auralex or Sound Addicted makes the pads you’re looking for and unlike the rest of audio, they’re resonably priced.